Vehicles are typically equipped with one or more controllers or control devices that are linked by at least one network or bus structure. It is common for a vehicle to have numerous electronic control units (ECUs) for various subsystems. Among the ECUs within a vehicle are, without limitation: powertrain/engine, active restraint (airbag), braking, chassis, body, infotainment, autonomous operation and the like. A controller area network (CAN) structure is a communication network structure that is frequently used in vehicles that allows ECUs communicatively coupled to the CAN network to communicate with each other without a host computer or master network control.
Virtually any computing device or communication structure can be subject to cyber attack. Generally speaking, a cyber attack is an offensive, malicious maneuver taken against a computing device or communication network to acquire information or data, to control the device or network, or to destroy or degrade the functionality of the device or network.
Vehicle manufacturers are increasingly aware of the need for cyber security to secure the vehicle computing devices and networks from cyber attack. These efforts typically take the form of securing the devices and networks from cyber intrusion by creating barriers to attack. However, even the best barriers, in time, may not always be able to stop the persistent efforts of the skilled hacker.
Preferable to an endless effort to block cyber attacks, is to actively address and counter the cyber attack. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a communication network and a method of communicating data via a network that actively respond to identify and counter a cyber attack by making use of a mechanism independent of the ECU application software. It is further desirable to provide vehicles incorporating such protocols and methods instead of solely adopting the current ISO11898-1 based communication protocol solution, which has a fault confinement strategy intended to preserve high availability of the data transmission system without leveraging certain cyber security concerns. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present disclosure will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.